“What do you mean you don’t want to use the scrolls?” I protested as I followed my wife back to my residence. She’d gotten a pass to stay the night in Moment City from the prof, and we were planning her rank-up here tonight after we settled in.
She smiled beatifically. “I mean what I said,” she clarified. “I have enough. My reputation and the months of holding back have more than pushed me over the threshold. I’ve been polishing my skills for the Advanced trial, but since I’m not holding on for that anymore, it’s time for me to take the next step.”
“Which I’m fine with,” I protested. “But why not accept the extra points? Crossing B-rank is going to take you ages.”
“It might,” she acknowledged. “But we can cross that bridge when we come to it. This is about my breakthrough, and I don’t want the help.” She put her hand on my cheek. “I love you, and I appreciate the concern, but this…it feels like something I need to do on my own. Helping create that lantern shield showed me exactly what I need for this.”
I frowned, but I couldn’t argue.
She smiled warmly. “Don’t be such a downer. I’ve been working on this for a while. With my new reputation and my own scores on the mid-terms, I shouldn’t be TOO far behind you. Better not drag your feet, or I might beat you to B-rank,” she winked to let me know she was teasing, and it warmed my heart to see her so unruffled by the current gap.
“Alright,” I sighed, flopping down on my bed. “With your Domain active, you should be fine to absorb the Impact. It’ll enhance the power of the Vault directly. Speaking of which, we should check to see if there’s some way for you to tap into Cosmic Waltz now that he’s been upgraded. Using his abilities to enhance your Domain should be easy enough with so much control.”
Speaking of, I wondered how big the Vault would be after the rank up. I doubted she’d be hitting the same radius as I had, given all the enhancements and opportunities I’d had. I didn’t know what a normal Domain size for a B-ranker was. Her Vault was currently a little small, but it had been partially forged with the cosmic fire, so I was pretty sure the flood of Impact would have some interesting results.
“You ready?” I asked her anxiously. She just squeezed my hand tightly to let me know she was alright, then closed her eyes and…let it all in.
Callie had been only about a hundred thousand points from B-rank for months now. Constant attention, constant renown. From her dad, from the asura, from our relationship, from her scores. Callie had been accruing renown at an absurd rate, even without the scrolls to bump her up.
Now that she was letting it in, the step from one rank to the next wasn’t so much a threshold as a soap bubble. Just a little pressure and…pop. She punched right though, and I watched with relief and not a little bit of awe as the Impact overflowed her soul and poured into her Domain, reinforcing it and expanding her power.
From the outside it took far less time, and before I could even process, it was over. She beamed at me as she took out a pen and paper, scrawling out her stats before handing them over to me proudly so I could see how much she’d accomplished.
Calliope Wyndham. B-rank.
Ability: Legendary Trait: Heretic Archangel. An instrument of the will of a faded god. A child of the flame that burns back the heart of the Void.
Weapon:Gossamer (inverted form is Oblique)
Domain: Shadowvault. A special space of quantum uncertainty that stores items. Any item inside can be summoned in duplicate, once in its original form and once in an inverted shadow form.
Domain Size: 13 Miles
Sword technique based on inverted cosmic phoenix attribute: Certitude- collapses space in an unstable ball around the target so the attack is unavoidable
Chronicle:Book of the Final Flame
Pages bound:7- 1 (purification of apostate), 2 sword mastery, 3 creation of Peaceflame and Lantern Shield, 1 assist in creation of Song of Arcadia
Might-6,337,012 (x3 modifier for heretic angel trait)
Impact-215
Vitality-4,634,236 (x3 modifier for heretic angel trait)
Fantasy-3,646,541 (x3 modifier for heretic angel trait)
Focus-1,529,412
Perception- 2,743,186
Creation-3,616,043
Progress to next rank: 22,506,645/100,000,000
Soul Strength: Obsidian Soul Body.
Skills: Minor Tracking, Beginner Dual Dagger Mastery, Grandmaster Stealth, Intermediate Trap Mastery, Beginner Disguise, Lesser Balam Mastery, Legendary Adherent Ascension, Grandmaster of the Sword, Legendary Angelic Bond
Path of the Heretic Scion- Solid. Technique: Guilt in Gossamer
I gaped. It wasn’t unbelievable, exactly, not after so long, but it wasn't exactly EXPECTED. I was blown away by the jump. She was at almost a quarter of the way to A-rank right after the breakthrough. Maybe those jokes about catching up weren’t so amusing after all. At this rate I wouldn’t be surprised to see it.
Beyond that, I spotted a few other things. “Seven pages?” I asked her in surprise. “Looks like you bound a few during my recent upgrade, that’s amazing, Cal. Of course, we both need to get a few more before leaving. Don’t forget to look into some of the special locations here, they’ll make binding pages a lot easier.
Her skills had improved as well, and there was a new one, seemingly connected to the Angelic Bond between us. She’d had that the whole time, but it hadn’t been visible before now. I wondered what had changed to make it more visible. Was it just the upgrade from Angelic Bond’s recent bump to tier 9? Beyond that, her stats were all pretty well filled out, and she’d even patched some strong weaknesses in her build.
Focus had been at five hundred thousand or so last I checked. The lowest stats got easier to raise the higher up you went, and a new environment had almost definitely helped. But I noticed something missing. “You mentioned the Lantern Shield helped you figure out a new direction for your breakthrough?”
“More of a supplement,” she clarified. “But I did have an idea. Do you remember my new technique? Certitude? I based it on the Hatefire from the original lantern shield, it collapses space around a target making attacks inevitable and basically unblockable.”
I had a distinct memory of her sword falling from every angle around me, an omnipresent threat like the sky itself was falling on my head in the form of a sword. “I remember,” I chuckled. “I’m guessing you came up with another technique? What does that have to do with your Domain, though? Or your breakthrough?”
“Balance,” she said serenely. “It’s all about balance. The Vault requires balance, when in balance, both of the items involved in the process can be removed, but if balance is disturbed I have to enshrine one forever to make the other usable. My Adherent Fire is a balance to my Heretic Fire, my Oblique is a balance to Gossamer. Certitude is a technique I created myself, but even in that there should be balance. After all, I have two swords. Only when my technique is in balance can I show the true capability of my Domain.”
Her voice was energetic, almost frantic, and I recognized the touch of epiphany. I’d felt that more than once in my own research and development headspace, so I knew better than to disrupt. I gestured for her to open the Vault though, knowing that she could practice even better inside, and that doing sword work in my room would be reckless.
When we entered, the first thing I noticed was the size of the place. After the breakthrough, Callie’s Domain had expanded, clocking thirteen miles, but I hadn’t really recognized what that MEANT. The Vault was a cube, which meant that as it expanded, it also got taller, and at this point, it towered so high that staring up at the ceiling was like staring into a bottomless pit. “I wonder what the opposite of an Abyss is?” I asked casually.
“A home,” Callie said with a bit of melancholy. I was surprised, and cocked my head at her, but she just shook it off. “Sorry, just feeling a bit introspective. Come on, I’ll pick up Oblique and I can start on the new technique.”
I followed her deep into her Domain, where she retrieved her sword. I suspected she didn’t need the walk, and had just wanted to show me around in here, but I didn’t mind. It was nice.
When she finally got the sword, she took me to a new area I hadn’t seen before, and took up position with her blade. “I’ll need your help with this,” she told me determinedly. “Would you mind lending a hand again?”
“Not at all, but what do I actually do?” I asked warily. “Do you need to attack me again?”
Now that she was B-rank, the gap between us wasn’t nearly as wide. I should still be ahead, but I couldn’t just assume I was untouchable. To my surprise though, she just shook her head. “Nope, the opposite. This one is defensive. I need you to attack. I want you to use Mephistopheles for this one. He’s got your strongest offensive power, right?”
I grinned. “Alright, but now that you’re at the same rank as me I’m not going to hold back. I hope this new technique is as impressive as you say.”
Of course, I wouldn’t actually hurt her, but I trusted Callie to be strong enough to take a head on blow. I called my staff from my Domain, enjoying the reassuring thump of the wood dropping into my palms. Callie got into a stance I hadn’t seen before. “The complete form of this style will involve both swords and use both techniques at the same time. But I’ll focus on the defense technique for now. Go ahead and attack.”
Nodding, I let my whole body relax. Tension drained from my muscles, I let myself begin to sway, it felt like I was floating, like nothing was holding me up…then I struck.
My muscles snapped taught in succession, rolling up from the ground and through my body as my staff flashed out, blazing with the black flame of ruin. It was my most powerful blow without augmentation from a bunch of other demons, and a show of the respect I had for Callie’s abilities.
Callie stood still. Her face was placid, her eyes serene. She only began to move at the last possible second, but by the time she did, things began to change. A bright golden light blazed up inside the sword, the light driving back the darkness of my flame, and she flicked her blade.
Her sword cut through my attack. Not through my staff, or through my stance itself. It was like she’d dissected the concept of my offensive and scattered the pieces. My blow was diverted in every direction, bleeding off into a million possible variables until it was dissolved into nothingness, diffused into empty air.
It was…transcendent. I swallowed hard. Trying to imagine her using that with one hand and Certitude with the other was terrifying. Balance. I got it now. “That was certainly something. What’s it called?”
“The opposite of certainty,” she said as she put away her blade. “Could be indecision, or fear, or even faith. But I don’t think it is. I think the opposite of certitude is trust. Giving up your sense of surety and putting your belief in something else.” She beamed at me happily. “I think this is it, Shane. This is what I needed. Even after ranking up this should be enough.” She leaned forward to peck me on the masked cheek. “Go ahead and get back to your training. I’ve decided. I’ll continue to challenge the Advanced Student trial at my new rank. I know I can pass.” And so, our last month of training began.